Swimming against the general tide in the EU, while several members have curtailed LGBTQI+ rights, Spain is in the process of passing a law which will allow trans people to self-determine their gender. However, like its European brothers and sisters, the country is in the midst of a culture war. Tradition clashes with modernism in one of the Euro’s biggest economies. Religion still plays a major role within a society whose youth often have other ideas.
In Barcelona, one of the country’s most liberal cities, the i-vaginarium project is dedicated to providing in-depth information to transsexual women considering the possibility of having a vaginoplasty. Magdalena wants to celebrate her 25th birthday in the place where she grew up. In Sediments, a new documentary from Adrián Silvestre, she invites a group from the organisation to travel with her to Puente de Alba, a tiny village in the mountains.
Sediments is an empathetic and thoughtful documentary which allows the six trans women at the heart of it to tell their own tales. As they travel to the province of León, the women begin to bond and share stories. While their backgrounds are very different, they have much in common. The warm welcome they receive from the villagers makes them feel at home. In a world where trans rights are far from guaranteed, Sediments allows these women to simply be themselves.
Sediments screens at London Film Festival.
